This invention relates to a fuel additive composition for adding to the hydrocarbon fuel of an internal combustion engines to enhance the performance of the engine and reduce pollutants from the engine.
For many years, it has been customary to utilize separate chemicals to deal with various fuel problems. For example, it has been common to use kerosene to remove carbon deposits from an engine, to add alcohol to gasoline to render its moisture content miscible therewith, and to add a highly volatile component to provide a quick start to a sluggish engine. It is also well-known that the octane number of gasoline fuel may be increased (i.e. the knocking properties of gasoline may be reduced) by using increasingly-branched olefins, or aromatic hydrocarbons.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 1,925,048, to Hennen is for a fuel composition and method. The composition is mixed with gasoline for use in internal combustion engines and includes benzol, trinitrotoluene, orthonitrochlorobenzene, technical white oil, castor oil, alphanaphthylamine, acetone, and butalacetate. The Barclay et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,266, is an additive for improving the performance of liquid hydrocarbon fuels which uses a low molecular weight alcohol, an aliphatic ester, an aromatic hydrocarbon, a halogenated alkene, a hydroxy unsaturated vegetable oil and an aliphatic hydrocarbon for improving the fuel efficiency of an engine and providing cleaner burning by reducing engine deposits. The Villacampa U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,031, is a fuel and oil additive which contains naphthalene, camphor, toluene, benzyl alcohol, and gasoline and may include a small amount of lower alcohol, such as isopropyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol. The Efner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,280, is a fuel additive which includes vegetable oils, particularly soybean oil, tall oil acid, aralkyl acids, particularly phenylstearic acid, which are reacted with multiamines, particularly tetraethylenepentamine, to form a product mixture for subsequent reaction with SO.sup.2 to produce a fuel additive with good detergent properties. The Zoch, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,868, is for a fuel additive for addition in a vapor phase to a fuel, such as gasoline in the air/fuel mixing zone of an internal combustion engine for increasing the combustion efficiency and reducing the amount of pollution. The additive uses methanol, isopropanol, toluene, and methyl ethyl ketone. The Nelson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,661, is a fuel conditioner with a compatibilizing agent, such as alcohol, and includes an aromatic hydrocarbon. The Secor U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,452, is a fuel blend comprising tall oil and mineral and/or vegetable oil. In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,257,318, to Cohen, et al., a mineral oil base is used with a cleansing mixture of (a) a compound resulting from reacting a phosposulphurized hydrocarbon with an alkaline oxide and (b) an oil-soluble dispersant lubricating oil additive comprising a copolymer of C4-C18 alcohol fumarates, a butyl half ester of maleic acid and vinyl acetate in a mineral oil diluent. This invention is directed toward a cleansing and lubricating oil, but is not intended to be added to fuel.
It is the aim of this invention to furnish in a fuel additive as a single product formulation which may be added to gasoline fuel for an internal combustion engine, or in a preformulated fuel to enhance the fuel's performance and reduce pollution from the engine.